Law school graduates give their professors an A, failing grades for job placement

It’s final exam time, and this year, law schools are receiving a passing grade... even after struggling on the “job placement” portion of the test.

On August 19, Kaplan released a survey of 2014 law school graduates, determining how they felt about their law school experience. The survey of 1,273 graduates covered a number of topics, including professor quality, preparation for the workforce, and placement in the workforce.

Overall, more graduates felt they had a top-notch education in 2013 than in the previous year. 40 percent gave their law school education an A, up 3 percent from 2012. 45 percent gave their education a B, and only 4 percent gave D or F overall grades.

In particular, many law school graduates felt overwhelmingly positive about the quality of their professors. 52 percent of respondents gave their professors an A grade, while only 2 percent gave their professors a D or F grade.

However, when it came to how the teaching of those great professors translated to the real world, graduates were a little wearier. When asked how their school helped them find jobs in the law industry, 15 percent of students gave their school an F, an additional 15 percent gave their school a D. Just 13 percent of students surveyed gave their schools an A in this area.

“Jobs are top of mind for law school graduates in what continues to be a challenging job market for new attorneys, so it’s not too surprising that students are tough graders on this front,” said Steven Marietti, vice president and general manager of Kaplan Bar Review, in a statement. “The survey tells us that students are happy with the quality of their legal education overall and still see law school as a worthwhile investment, but they really want more assistance from law schools in helping them land jobs in the legal sector.”

According to recent ABA statistics, schools are increasing the number of graduates they place in jobs requiring bar passage, but at a slow rate. In 2013, 57 percent of graduates landed jobs requiring bar passage out of school, up 0.8 percent from 2012. However, the rate of unemployment among these graduates also rose slightly, to 11 percent in 2013.

Assistant Editor

Zach Warren

Zach Warren is Assistant Editor of InsideCounsel magazine, where he oversees online content submissions and administers InsideCounsel's enewsletters. Zach specializes in new media and multimedia...